Carton



Jan. 27, 19 59 w, RINGLER 2,870,952

CARTON Filed Oct. 24, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet l 57 INVENTOR. Z1 WILLIAM A.RINGLER ATTORNEYS Jan. 27, 1959 w A RINGLER 2,870,952

CARTON Filed Oct. 24, 1955 FIG-5 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. 1G WILLIAMA. RINGLER ATTORNEYS swing into an open position when applied.

a 2 Claims. (Cl. 229 -44) This application relates to a carton,particularly to a carton having a 'reclosable lid.

p The primary object of this invention is to provide a carton, andparticularly a blank for forming a carton,

which is readily adaptable to use in a number of high speed packagingmachines, for use in packaging a great variety of materials, especiallyfor packaging those materialswherein a dispensing type of package isdesirable.

Another object of the invention is to providesuch a carton including areclosable lid as an integral part of the carton, the lid and the cartonbeing designed so that the lid is normally retained in closed positionbut will Another object of the invention is to provide such a cartonutilizing a blank which requires a minimum of sheet United States PatentM pressure is intentionally material and which is therefore economicalas well as practicalin manufacture.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing description, the accompanying drawings and the appendedclaims.

i In the drawings- Fig. l is a plan View of a blank from which thecarton of this invention is formed;

Figs. 2 and 3 are somewhat schematic illustrations showing theprogressive steps of folding the blank into a fiat folded tube;

Fig. 4 shows bottom flap folding operations whichmay be performed by ahigh speed packaging machine;

Fig. 5 shows a partially completed carton with the article to bepackaged in the carton;

Figs. 6 and 7 illustrate progressive steps in forming the reclosable lidof the carton; Figs. 8 and 9 show further steps in the lid formingloperation,following the steps of Figs. 6 and 7, and with the cartoninverted from the position of Fig. 7 to more clearly illustrate the topside wall and flap folding steps;

Fig. 10 is a broken vertical section through the completed cartonshowing the lid in its closed position;

Fig. 11 is a partial section similar to Fig. 11 showing the lid beingopened; and

Fig. 12 is a perspective view of the completed carton.

Referring to the drawings, which illustrate a preferred embodiment ofthe present invention, the blank in Fig. 1 includes a rear panel 10 andside panels 11 and 12 hinged to the rear panel along score lines 13 and14, respectively. A front panel 15 is connected along line 16 to theopiposite side of side panel 11, and a glue flap 18 ishinged attl9 tothe other edge of side panel 12. At the bottom of the blank a series ofbottom flaps 20, 21, 22 and 23 "are independently hingedly connected tothe lower edges of panels 15, 11, 10 and 12, respectively; These flapsare foldable to provide a bottom wall for the completed carton, as willpresently be described.

The blank also includes an internal series of walls and flaps forforming a lid for the carton. These include a rear wall 25 which ishinged to the upper edge of rear panel 10 along a score line 28, and atop wall 30 con- Patented Jan. 27, 1959 per edges of the front panel 15and the glue flap 18; A

temporary connection is provided between flaps 33 and panels 11 and 12by severable portions 36 which interrupt the continuity of the slits toprovide for concurrent movement of the flaps 33 and panels 11 and 12during certain of the folding operations, as will be described below. p

The blank also includes a front wall 40 hinged at 41 to top wall 30, andside walls 42 hinged at 43- to opposite sides of front wall 40. Flaps 45are hinged to the edges of side walls 42, extending in continuity withthe connecting score line 41, and these flaps 45 are separated from topwall 30 and flaps 33 by L-shaped slits 46 provided in the blank.

The upper frontal edge of panel 15 preferably includes a cutaway portion50 which extends partially across the upper free edge ofpanel 15 toprovide an access opening in the completed carton. This opening is notabsolutely necessary but does facilitate removal of the contents,particularly when the carton is used for packaging cigarettes andsimilar rod-like articles.

Referring to Figs. 2 and 3, these illustrations show the folding ortubingof the blank of Fig. 1 into a 'flat folded assembled form forstorage or shipping. From this form the carton is readily assembled by anumber of high speed packaging machines now in general use, as willpresently be described. The tubing operation may also be performed on ahigh speed gluing and folding machine which applies glue or othersuitable adhesive to the outer surface of glue flap 18, as by a rollerindicated diagrammatically in Fig. 1. Glue flap 18 and handle 12 arethen folded over along line 14, and also the flap members 33 andsidewalls 42 are folded over along line 43 at the same time, and finallythe rear panel 10 and side panel 11 are folded as a unit along scoreline 13 to bring the free edge of panel 10 into overlying relation withtheadhesive on the glue flap. In this form, as shown in Fig. 3, thecarton blank is prepared for feeding from a magazine ofa high speedpackaging machine.

The general operating sequence of such machines provides for opening ofthe flat folded carton blank into an open tubular form, followed byfolding of the bottom flaps to form a bottom wall on the carton. Thus,in Fig. 4 the end wall formation is begun by inward folding or tuckingof bottom flaps 21 and 23 in the direction of arrows 57 in Fig. 4, andwhen these flaps are folded across the open bottom of the carton, flap22 is folded upwardly, as indicated by arrow 58, over flaps 21 and 23,and finally flap 20 is folded on top of flap 22 with suitable adhesivebeing applied between the contacting faces of these flaps to cause themto adhere and complete the bottom wall of the carton.

filled with the articles or materials to be packaged, the

articles extending to the upper edges of front panel 15 and side panels11 and 12. Reference numeral 60 in Fig. 5 indicates the general locationof the material to be packaged. The formation of the reclosable lid onthe carton is then begun. by the machine. This folding operation mayfollow a number of different sequences, depending upon where it isdesired to locate the flaps 45 on the finally assembled carton.

One example of forming the carton lid is shown in Figs. 5-9. his to benoted that flaps 3.3 are folded upwardly with panels 11 and 12, due tothe severable 42 which register with flaps 33, as indicated by thestippled portions 62 in Fig. 8, as well as to the adjacent faces offlaps 45. Thus, when the side walls 42 are folded upon side panels 11and 12 they are adhered to liap's 33. Finally, the flaps 45 are foldedinwardly and ad hered to the top wall 30, as indicated by arrows 63 inFig. 9.

The completed carton is shown in Fig. 12, and a section through thecarton in Fig. 11 illustrates the overlapping relation of the lid withrespect to the remainder of the carton. Thus, the panels 10, 11, 12and15, together with the bottom wall formed by the bottom flaps, provide anopen top box to which there is integrally hinged a lid including front,rear, side and top walls. The hinged connection along line 28 is belowthe top of the box, since the upper frontal edges of panel 15 and panels11 and 12 extend vertically above the hinge line. This is clearly seenin Fig. 11, wherein the lid has been swung to a partially open position.The severable connections 36 are thus broken on the first opening of thelid, and are no longer necessary in retaining the lid in its closedposition, The sole purpose of these connections is to provide for upwardfolding of flaps 33 along with the side panels as described above.

The are through which front wall 40 passes during opening and closingmovement of the lid is such that the inner surface of walls 40 slidesagainst the upper edges of front panel 15 and a certain amount ofintentionalpressure is required to open and shut the lid to overcome theresistance thus provided to opening and closing movement. This resistingforce is suflicient to retain the lid in its normally closed positionwithout the use of any other elements. Furthermore, the flaps 33 havetheir lower free edges sloped complementary to the sloped upper edges ofpanels 11 and 12, the latter extending from the upper edge of frontpanel 15 downwardly toward the upper edge of rear panel 10 which isdefined by the hinge line 28. Thus, flaps 33 assist in locating the lidin its closed position and tend to prevent movement of the entire lidforardly of the carton under a crushing force. This ararngementovercomes to a great extent the tendency of score line 28 to wear ortear after the package has been used and carried for some time.

It will thus be seen that the present invention provides a carton havinga reclosable lid which is simple and economical to manufacture and whichis readily adaptable to use in standard packaging machines, both byreason of its single fiat blank design and because of the adaptabilityof its folding operations to the mechanisms now used in those machines.

Also, this carton can be adapted to use in such machines as the AMF3-79standard cigarette packer which operates on the basic principles shownin Patent No. 1,926,192, and which can operate at a rate ofapproximately 120 packages per minute with cigarettes, and at comparablehigh speeds with similar articles. In connection with this machine thecarton blanks provided by this invention may be fed from the machinemagazine in the form of a completed flat blank, as in Fig. 1, and thecarton blanks may be folded about the mandrel such as shown at 63 inFigs. 35-37 of Patent 1,926,192, rather than supplying the carton blanksto the machine in fiat folded assembled form such as shown in Fig. 3.

While the form of article herein described constitutes a preferredembodiment of the invention, it isto be understood that the invention isnot limited to this precise form of article, and that changes may bemade therein without departing from the scope of the invention which isdefine-d in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A blank adapted to be formed by high speed machine operations into acarton having a reclosable lid, said blank comprising front, rear andside panels and a glue flap all attached for lateral folding about anarbor to provide an open ended tube, flaps on the bottom edges of saidpanels for assembly into a bottom wall to convert said tube into an opentop box, said front panel being substantially greater in height thansaidrear panel, said side panels having the upper edges thereof sloped fromthe upper edge of said front'panel to the upper edge of said rear panel,lid forming means for the carton including a rear wall hinged to theupper edge of said rear panel, top, front and side walls on said lidintegral with said rear wall and dimensioned to cover the open top ofsaid box and the upper portions of said front and side panels, and flapsextending from the sides of said rear wall and adapted to be adhered tothe inner surface of said side walls, said flaps having a sloped loweredge complementary to the sloped upper edge of said side panels forabutment therewith in the closed position of the lid.

2. A carton blank adapted to be folded by high speed machine operationsinto a carton having a reclosable lid, said blank including front, rearand side panels, flaps on said panels for forming a closed bottom, saidpanels and said flaps being foldable to provide an open top box, saidfront panel being of greater height than said rear panel, a lid for saidbox including a rear wall integrally hinged to the upper edge of saidrear panel, said side panels having slits in their upper ends extendingfrom the upper front corner thereof and sloping toward the hingedconnection between said rear panel and said rear wall of said lid, theportions of said side panels above said slits'p'roviding flaps integralwith opposite sides of said lid.

rear wall, a top wall integral with the remaining edge of said rearwall, front and side walls integrally attached to said top wall andincluding flaps for adherence to one of said walls to retain said topand'fr'ont walls substantially at right angles with respect to eachother, said front wall being dimensioned to overlap the upper frontalportion of said front panel in the closed position of said lid, and saidside walls being adapted to overlap the sloped upper ends of said sidepanels in the closed ,position of said lid, the portions of said sidepanels above said slits being attachable to and movable with said lidfor seating upon the sloped edges of said side panels in the closedposition of said lid.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS GreatBritain Feb. 15,194:

